Our Universes Collide
by wolfofsheep
Summary: An Alternate Universe Fic for Risknight. Nothing carries a darkness quite like a scar and a memory and to Penny, it is the darkness that eats at her at every waking hour. Then one little bus ride to work gives her something she's never had... peace. Shenny Fic and an AU fic


_A/N_

_Alright, this is a story that may or may not be continued. I had this strangely mute idea that came to me as a man at work talked about how much he thought how insanely hot scars on a woman were. I don't judge people because, HEY, we all have our fetishes, so I took this crazy confession and turned it into this. Now, of course, this will be an Alternate Universe (AU) story. It is set BEFORE the show and is OOC. I REPEAT for those who have a hard time with this word... THIS IS AN AU STORY! IT WILL NOT BE ANYTHING LIKE THE SHOW YOU ARE SO USED TO._

_*clears her throat*_

_Sorry about that_

_I told Risknight that I dedicated this story to her. So, I do. This is for you, m'friend. Know that I may have to add some chapterage on this baby and you KNOW that'll take some time. Money is such a pain to get these days..._

_ANYWAYS, a little back story for this: the Swift Version_

_Penny and Kurt moved to Pasadena and she stayed with him. He became enraged and began to abuse Penny after neither could find a suitable job. It wasn't until Kurt cut her from her ear, down her lip and chin, down her chest, across her left breast then stopping at her belly button that Kurt was finally taken out of her life for good. She went to numerous psychiatric sessions for abused victims, but the damage was already done. The scar was deep and hideous to the eye and it gave Penny an extreme complex about it to the point that she never had sex with anyone since Kurt. Not everything was tragedy for Penny, she met a very shy but lovable woman named Amy Farrah Fowler and a very sweet roommate named Bernadette who have been her rock since the day she met them. She and Bernadette still work at the Cheesecake Factory, but on different shifts. Though Bernadette HAS a car, Penny wasn't able to keep up her payments so she opted to taking the bus._

_I know it doesn't make sense, but I'll explain stuff as this story goes on (maybe :/ ) so just know... this will be Shenny and there will be blood, and pain, and love, and... well... mayhem. *grins*_

_Enjoy... and if you don't... (insert her favorite F word here) You!_

* * *

Penny, in her Cheesecake Factory uniform and her hair up in a loose ponytail, tightened the scarf around the lower part of her face and sighed with a hint of anxiety as she looked up, inside the doors of the bus at the hairball of people. She swallowed deeply but pushed herself to move inside. Crowds of people made her so very nervous. Even if she was covering the deep scars on her face, she still felt like everyone was staring at her and whispering. She slipped in, dodging people by dipping her shoulders down like a cat burglar avoiding lasers. She found a spot with enough space that made her feel less… twitchy and tightened the scarf a little bit more. She thought she had enough time to reach up for the handle before the bus would take off, but she was wrong. The massive vehicle accelerated then took a tight right turn causing the momentum of the bus to fling her bottom right into the lap of a skinny, but tall, dark haired man with the most breathtakingly beautiful blue eyes she had ever seen. The man looked to be ready to flip his lid, but she was already beating him to it.

"I am so so sorry. I-I'm sorry. S-S-Sorry."

She tried to yank herself away but the mass of the people inside seemed to expand. Her bouncy attempt of removing herself on led her to be shoved back, but this time, in a straddled position over his legs then came face to scarf with a very pointy and stern face.

Her body nearly convulsed at the situation as she tugged at her skirt. Her face was on fire and she could hear the chuckles of the people around her. She shut her eyes as tight as they would go and just waited for the man to shove her onto the very nasty floor.

"What is the point of having a Transit Capacity if you're not going to follow it, Mister Bus Driver? There are 97 passengers in this closed cabin currently, where there are only supposed to be 90. That is 7 more bodies that this mode of transportation cannot afford to have and could cause a counterweight imbalance that may cause a turnover and ensure the deaths of every single one of us. MISTER BUS DRIVER, I KNOW YOU CAN HEAR ME. PLEASE PULL OVER NOW. I WISH TO EXIT BEFORE THE ONCOMING SLAUGHTER OF US ALL!"

Penny could only stare at the man with her jaw hanging open behind the scarf. She could see that he was completely bonkers. She looked around at all the people staring at him with mixed reactions and she pushed the guy's shoulders into the seat and spoke loudly through the fabric around her mouth, "Hey! Calm yourself down! You're scaring all these people."

His blue eyes were watery when they snapped back to her own then looked down at her hands still pressing into his persons. She yanked her hands back and swallowed. She could break this guy over her knee like a dried stick, but something about his eyes made him seem more intense than your run of the mill nutcase.

She wrung her hands together and was about to apologize when his voice cut her off, "Just because you have conquered my personal space from the lack of respect for the Transit Capacity does not mean you can touch my persons all 'Willy-Nilly'. Understood?"

Penny's eyes went wide, then narrowed slowly. This guy was talking to her like she was a freaking child. A man with a black Batman t-shirt on top of a bright yellow, long sleeve shirt was talking to HER like she was a kid? Penny was not a woman of action. She was soft spoken and avoided verbal arguments because it only brought attention towards her, but everyone was already staring her way so she reacted as if it were only her and this… this… Lunatic, "What gives you the right to talk to me, or any of these people, like that? Huh?"

The man seemed to use the same intent as she was using. His entire focus was now on her and he seemed to prickle at her raised voice, "I can guarantee that my IQ is higher than everyone's IQ on this bus combined together. My intellectual contribution to the science community is legendary and vital to the survival of this pathetic race called, Human. The fact that a superior being, such as myself, has to degrade himself to riding PUBLIC transport to travel is utterly humiliating… and do not get me started on the fact that I have a Train Robber upon my lap."

Penny snarled, but he couldn't see it. She was about to snap again, but he cut her off, "Tell me… what is it that you are hiding? A pig nose, perhaps? You do realize this is a BUS and not a TRAIN, correct? Now trains… those are a great mode of trans-"

It was her turn to cut him off, "What the HELL ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT? You talk about how smart you are then start yammering about trains. You are absolutely clueless. You. Smart? PFFT… AND it is absolutely none of your business why I'm wearing this scarf. Now, would you PLEASE shut your hole for the good of us all! I will be out of your Crazy Ass Bubble in four more stops."

She was panting, now. Her heart was jumping against her sternum as if trying to join in the fight. She could see that her words affected him the way she intended, but she had pushed herself too far. She could feel her panic attack swarming and she sat back almost to the man's knees and grabbed her chest in desperation. She just might not make it to work because she felt like she was about to die right then and there. She did what Ames told her to do whenever the attack began to escalate; she grabbed her keys, shut her eyes, and focused on her deep breathing. She had thought she had gotten these stupid episodes out of her life what with her jogging every morning and learning to ground herself with real world applications, but any time she had an altercation or even a moment of sociability her mind began to flash back at the decaying moment where Kurt was on top of her with his box cutter and…

"…riencing a panic attack. I do not know you well enough to give you a positive enough feedback to deter the assault, but I will say that you are going to be alright in your current locale. I will not toss you to the ground or belittle you. Just concentrate on your breathing."

Her eyes shot open at the man's tense stare and gripped the keys in her left pocket and her deep breathing failed. Her body shook and she wanted to bolt off the bus, but the people standing were far too close for her to even move from his lap. The blue eyed man looked like a deer in headlights, but suddenly moved his arms. She twitched at his movement but couldn't stop him from pulling the scarf from around her nose and mouth while speaking urgently, "Your scarf is obstructing your airway…"

Everything stopped. The noises on the bus. The blurry scenery from the window behind him. Even her own internal clock stopped. She couldn't breathe as if something were sitting on her chest… the nightmares ate at her even when she was awake. Kurt… he did this to her. He ruined her not only physically, but mentally. She threw her deeply scarred palm of her right hand up to her face just as her eyes felt like they were going to pop out of her head. She saw the look of shock on the man's face sitting before her as he saw the deep, gnarly scar that ran diagonally down her right cheek from where the ear meshed with the side of her face. The fissured wound slithered down across the cheek then slit down across her lip and ended deeply down her chin.

She shut her eyes as tightly as she could and felt herself crumbling. She was going to black out… she could feel the pull of unconsciousness, but the man spoke a single word and brought her back, "Fascinating."

Penny's eyes shot open and took in the look of pure wonderment on the skinny man's face. She slowly dropped her hand and focused on nothing but the weird expression on his face. He tilted his head as he ogled her impairment. She was still shaking, but her breathing had leveled out and her mind finally cleared enough for speech, "Wh-what… what is so fascinating ab-about this… this… THIS!?" She pointed angrily at the permanent memento of her life changing event.

The man's blue eyes almost glowed as they connected with hers and he shook his head, "Do you have any idea what's behind the regeneration of damaged tissue? Of course you do not, but it is a fantastic event. I will spare you all the details since I do not believe you will understand any of it, but you should not be ashamed of having it."

The bus came to a stop and let off some passengers only to gain more than they lost. It caused the people to push against her and moving her down the man's lap almost pressed against him. She flinched too visibly and bowed her head to avoid his gaze then whispered harshly, "The scar is just a constant reminder of the darkest moment of my life, ok? I-it's none of your business, so can we please drop it?"

The man moved his legs underneath her and whispered to her, "That scar… is proof. The proof that you have fought against the transcripts of life and death then stood victorious over their intentions. That you took flight when everything wanted you to fall. Your 'darkest memory' is but a fluctuation of matter aligned like a galaxy. It causes you to reshape the orbits of your life, yes, but it also allows you to travel to worlds you would have never discovered without that evil. That… evil… that moment… it has made you a little unstable, yes, but it has not destroyed you. You are still a shining, inconceivable phenomenon… an alluringly strange galaxy that has yet to be discovered… and, now, our two vast Universes just collided. I would not have met you without that darkness. I do praise that darkness, but I am thankful that you were bright enough to out shine it or I may have never met you."

Penny tried to blink out the tears that had formed on the lower lids of her eyes and stared at the man as he suddenly went a little shy and his gaze fell from hers but he whispered more, "To believe that a measly healed wound and a Neanderthal could shatter such an aesthetically pleasing cluster of stars to the point that she would doubt herself worth is a probability I would never believe I would have to calculate."

Her breath came out in puffs as she found herself on the verge of a true crying spree and she dropped her sight down to the small space between their torsos. The bus had made another stop and she had two more to go before hers and… she was not looking forward to it, any longer. No one had ever spoken to her like that. True; men have said flattering things to get into her pants and sneak in touch or two, but these… the words he spoke; they were full of love and hope and… and something else. A man she had never met in her entire life tells her what she has always wanted to hear since the day she got out of the hospital and wanted to start over. She wasn't just the scar to him. She was the one who conquered it; who stood on her own two feet and fought off the onslaught. Her eyes slowly moved up his batman shirt and took in his scent of baby powder and hand sanitizer to finally looking back to his face that was plagued with a very worried look. Her eyes went wide.

"Yo-You are crying. Have I said something to upset you? I honestly was just trying my hand at complementary sociability. If I have offen-"

The bus made a sharp right causing the people on the bus to moan and yelp at the sudden shift. Penny's heated hands slapped against the window on either side of the man's head that cut his ranting apology off. She could feel the condensation her scarred hands were causing against the cooled glass and she pushed herself back very slowly. Her upper body was only inches away from his and she could feel his body heat. She reacted internally, but her physical reaction didn't mimic the lust inside of her. The pounding inside her ears was muting the world around her and her body was shaking just a little but not enough to be called a tremor. Her lungs were throbbing and screaming at her to breathe and she did with a very weird series of gasps. She glued her eyes to his and, from this close, she could see the rings of yellows and greens around his pupils and it sharpened the intensity of his stare.

He broke the awkwardness with a slow but jagged movement of his left arm. She looked at it rising with worried eyes then looked back at the emotionless face of the man. His hand glided in mid air and she watched his cerulean gaze as they studied her scarred cheek. As his fingers gently caressed her skin, her eyes slammed shut quickly and tightly; squeezing a few tears from her watery eyes. She was so terrified by this meaningless action that she was holding her breath and clenching her fists hard, but his touch was gentle and soft and slow. He traced the deep ridges on her cheek with his index and middle fingers as if he were reading Braille. They were so warm and calm that she dared to open her eyes.

His face was complacent and curious with his eyes locking not only the scar, but her entire face. His eyes met hers just as his fingers gently cupped her cheek and his thumb rolled down the scar across her lip. When the silken digit caressed her bottom lip, it paused before then stroked the deep scar down her chin. They didn't notice that the bus stopped and allowed passengers on and off as she felt a wave of euphoria even has his hand dropped back to his side. Her mind was literally blank and all she could do was catch up on her breathing and stare at him.

When his eyes drifted down to her lip then cowardly look away as if they weren't interested in them, she reacted the way she thought was best. She moved herself forward and braced herself with her hands against the window behind him and rested her forehead against his. She took in the shocked look and wrestled her own horror and resentment before tilting her head and pressing her scarred lips against his pristine mouth. She could feel the dampened cascade dripping down her palms from the glass. Her heart was stomping against the back of her throat but the taste of his lips was all she could focus on. She pulled back from the kiss only to have him stretching his tall body to recapture it. His arms snaked around her torso as hers did the same around his head and something inside of them seemed to switch from 'Nah' to 'Hell YES'.

It wasn't until the bus stopped and the bus driver yelled out 'Colorado Boulevard' and Penny had to yank herself away. She pursed her lips and ran her fingers down his neck then sadly whispered, "This is my stop."

She pushed off his lap and took in the devastating look on his face. She tugged at the ends of her skirt and turned to yell at the bus driver, "THIS IS ME!"

She looked back and saw the man standing up; right in front of her then extended his hand between them, "Doctor Sheldon Lee Cooper."

She gave him a big smile and put her hand into his, "Penelope Anne Lawson."

They dropped each other's hand Penny couldn't help but smile at the smeared lipstick all over his mouth. He quickly reached for her and shocked her as he lifted the scarf over her nose and smiled down at her, "A please to have made your acquaintance, Miss Lawson."

She smiled behind the scarf, "You can call me Penny." She gave him a wink and moved to the exit of the bus and slipped out of the doors. She turned around and saw him still standing and looking at her. A sickened feeling hit her as the doors closed with a hiss and the monstrous bus hummed as it drove away.

When it made a turn and out of her eyesight, her stomach dropped to her feet and she felt completely alone in the world. She tugged at the scarf around her mouth and pulled it off completely then turned to head to the Cheesecake Factory. As she walked, she shoved the scarf into a trash can and smiled. That man… Sheldon… she'd see him again. No man can touch a woman's heart so deeply and then disappear. Not if she had anything to do with it.


End file.
